New Music From Vic Ruggiero
Stuff In My Pockets is the latest project from singer-songwriter Vic Ruggiero, best known as the frontman of The Slackers and also as a contributor to projects by the likes of Rancid, The Transplants, and David Hillyard and the Rocksteady Seven. Known primarily as a singer and organist, he also plays piano, bass, banjo, cigar box guitar, guitar, harmonica, and percussion. His […]
Rolling Stone Counts Sunny War Among The Best Voices In Roots Music
According to Rolling Stone, “Sunny War has always drawn from a number of traditions (Eighties hardcore, Delta Blues, Seventies singer-songwriter, folk busking). But never before have all those styles sounded more seamlessly integrated than on Anarchist Gospel, her latest LP. On the collection, War synthesizes those genres into her very own distinct sound, from the murky swamp grooves (“Swear […]
Clash Music Praises The “Beautifully Absorbing” New LP From James Yorkston, Nina Persson, And The Second Hand Orchestra
Clash Music calls The Great White Sea Eagle, the new album from James Yorkston, Nina Persson, and The Second Hand Orchestra, “a beautifully absorbing album… The Great White Sea Eagle is redolent of long days spent watching boats come and go in Cellardyke harbour. An experience marked by patience, the final results are cast in widescreen by the Second Hand Orchestra, […]
New Music From Sunny War
Sunny War released her New West label debut Anarchist Gospel on February 3. The 14-song set was produced by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff) and features appearances by Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Allison Russell, David Rawlings, Jack Lawrence of the Raconteurs, Micah Nelson, John James Tourville of The Deslondes, Kyshona Armstrong, Dennis Crouch, The School Zone […]
Dominionated Praises Matt Holubowski’s Poetic Sensibilities
About Matt Holubowski‘s “End Scene,” one of two advance singles at radio now from the upcoming LP Like Flowers on a Molten Lawn, Dominionated writes, “It’s a perfect example of Holubowski’s poetic sensibilities reaching equilibrium with a primal noisiness, beginning with the soft chatter of voices, snaps, and hums. The gradual entrance of the electric guitar is surrounded by […]
If It’s Too Loud Shares The Snob-Proof New Fruit Bats Single
If It’s Too Loud writes, “Eric D. Johnson is back with new music from Fruit Bats. The latest single, ‘Rushin’ River Valley,’ is a perfect sun swept, laid back, California sounding, 70’s AM radio style song. It’s hardly a throwback, though, as the song sounds like a completely modern version of those sounds. Despite how laid back the […]
The Ophelias’ Leslie Medford Chats With Psychedelic Baby
Leslie Medford of The Ophelias – the classic San Francisco band from the Eighties, whose Bare Bodkin collection was released last year by Independent Project Records – recently chatted with Psychedelic Baby Magazine about his own musical history and that of his band. About the band’s name, Medford says, “it was just a name that, to me, conveyed psychedelia and literacy. There was certainly […]
Aquarium Drunkard’s Transmissions Chats With James Yorkston And Nina Persson
James Yorkston and Nina Persson did a recent joint interview on Aquarium Drunkard’s Transmissions podcast. About their new album The Great White Sea Eagle, at radio now from Domino Recording Company, the venerable site wrote, “Created in collaboration with The Second Hand Orchestra, it’s saturated with soul and kind wit. Calling in from their respective places in Sweden and Scotland, Persson and […]
Mary Halvorson Shares Influences With WYPR’s Essential Tremors
Mary Halvorson – the ground-breaking artist whose two albums Amaryllis and Belladonna are at radio now from Nonesuch Records – was interviewed recently on WYPR’s Essential Tremors. In its intro, the site writes that “Halvorson is often classified as a jazz guitarist, but her work — fluid, soulful and inventive — pushes boundaries, having been described as ‘the most future-seeking guitarist working right […]
Austin Lifestyle Profiles Micah Nelson, aka Particle Kid
Austin Lifestyle Magazine has a feature on Micah Nelson, also known as Particle Kid. At the beginning of the article, entitled Next Gen Nelson, Willie Nelson’s youngest child explains that “I never really thought too much about [wanting to be a musician]… I was always around music [and] I actually started to play the harmonica when I was […]
New Music From Matt Holubowski
Matt Holubowski, from Hudson, Québec, has come a long way since his 2014 debut Ogen, Old Man, a collection of folk songs inspired by his many trips and experiences around the world. His next release – Solitudes, a collaboration with fellow Québecois Connor Seidel, sold over 45,000 copies and racked up 17 million streams, earning a Gold record […]
Music Connection Profiles Julia Bhatt
Music Connection has a songwriter profile on Julia Bhatt, the Miami-based artist whose debut LP it is what it is is at radio now. “Bhatt first started in the drama room at school, but soon found herself immersed in music… Having dabbled in the guitar for a school class, Bhatt confesses she didn’t learn much, but that she uses the […]
The Irish Times Praises The Great White Sea Eagle
Of the new LP from James Yorkston, Nina Persson, and The Second Hand Orchestra, the Irish Times writes, “One of the best folk albums of the past few years – James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra’s 2021 The Wide, Wide River – might just be equalled by The Great White Sea Eagle, which is so much the same and so different […]
Jazzwise Interviews Mary Halvorson
Jazzwise has a conversation with Mary Halvorson about the creation of her twin albums, Amaryllis and Belladonna, and much more, including details about her days of learning guitar – “My right hand is weaker although I naturally picked up a guitar right handed (despite Jimi Hendrix being a childhood inspiration). I had to work at my pick work to get it up to […]
Jambands Covers Fruit Bats
Jambands recently wrote about the upcoming Fruit Bats album, A River Running To Your Heart, from which new radio single “Rusin’ River Valley” is culled. ““Over the years, there’s been a lot of geography in my music, a lot of landscapes,” Eric D. Johnson says via press release. “Sometimes the places are real, sometimes they’re emotional. […]
James Yorkston Expounds On The Great White Sea Eagle With The Yorkshire Post
“James Yorkston has a wry take on how The Great White Sea Eagle, his collaboration with Nina Persson, erstwhile frontwoman of Swedish band The Cardigans, came about,” writes The Yorkshire Post. According to the Post, Yorkston’s story is that “we were in a terrible situation where the record company had suddenly realised that I couldn’t sing,… After all these […]
Americana UK Laments That Fruit Bats Will Tour North America This Spring
Americana UK has coverage of the new Fruit Bats single “Rushin’ River Valley,” but the publication sounds miffed that Eric D. Johnson won’t be visiting the UK as a solo artist this Spring. “There’ll be an extensive North American tour, covering the USA and Canada. Which admittedly isn’t a lot of use to us here in the UK.” Dang. Hear […]
New Music From Rose’s Pawn Shop
With their fusion of bluegrass instrumentation and folk-rock amplification, Rose’s Pawn Shop has spent the better part of two decades carving out an Americana sound that’s as diverse as the band’s native Los Angeles. Their past releases offer a melting pot of modern-day roots music, shot through with electric guitar, fiddle, raw percussive stomp, and stacked vocal […]
Off Shelf Interviews James Yorkston and Nina Persson
In a recent interview with Off Shelf, the Cardigans’ Nina Persson explains why she was compelled to join James Yorkston and the Second Hand Orchestra as they collaborated on the follow-up to their acclaimed debut LP The Wide, Wide River. “James and I have a friend in common with Karl-Jonas [Winquivist, the bandleader of the Second Hand Orchestra]… he’s […]
The Bluegrass Situation Shares Fruit Bats’ Newest Jam
According to Eric D. Johnson, new Fruit Bats’ single “Rushin’ River Valley” is a song “about true love, and the question of whether we are fated to be together or if it’s all just universal chaos tossing us around. It’s also about ghosts and bad dreams and trying to move forward and climbing over a mountain and hoping […]
